


The Universal Hero

by hamiltontrashcan



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-25 06:22:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16191866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamiltontrashcan/pseuds/hamiltontrashcan
Summary: So, I had an idea.And it started with me asking myself, "out of everyone on the Autobot side in TFP, who'd be more likely to attempt a demon summoning?" The answer was obviously Miko. And thus this fic was born.Or: Miko tries to summon a demon and gets a completely unexpected visitor instead.Note: I'm also going to include Raf, Miko, and Jack's families in more detail. (As the series kinda left them in the background for the most part.) Their families will be created using original ideas that connect with the canon lore.





	1. Miko: The (attempted) Demon Summoner

"Guys guess what I just found!" Miko slid hastily out of Bulkhead's alt form carrying a thick book under one arm and a guitar case in the other. Bulkhead transformed, shook his head, and walked off to join Bumblebee, Arcee, and Optimus Prime on an energon scouting mission. 

Miko gave Bulkhead a quick farewell wave as he left with his team through the groundbridge before turning her attention back to her human friends. "It's totally rad and I got it for free! Some loser was throwing it out." 

Raf's head shot up and he abandoned the video game he'd been playing with Jack. "What is it?" he asked eagerly climbing down the stairs to greet Miko. 

"I didn't take you for a dumpster diver." Jack drawled but he got up anyway to see what she'd brought. "A book? I thought you hated reading?" 

"I hate school books and homework, Jack." Miko rolled her eyes and plopped down on the floor in the middle of the base. The other two humans joined her as she set the book out so that the cover was visible. A pale, red-haired lady adorned the cover, a candle in on hand and a rope in the other. Above her was a gold title in a calligraphy-ish font. 

"The Complete Summoner's Guide," Raf read aloud and adjusted his glasses. "Summoners of what?" 

" _Demons and monsters,_ " Miko said dramatically with a mischievous smile. "And we're gonna test it out!" 

"Seriously?" Jack stared at Miko and raised an eyebrow. 

"What are you too scared?" 

"No!" Jack shot back defensively. "It's just- everyone knows those things are fake so why bother." 

"Yeah," Raf agreed opening the book and flipping through some pages. "There's no evidence that these rituals actually work." 

"That's why we're gonna try it. Call it collecting scientific data." Miko said persuasively. "Besides, if they don't work then it's not like we have anything to lose, right?" 

Raf nodded slowly and Jack hesitantly assented with a mutter, "I can't believe we're actually going to do this." 

"Luckily for you guys, I've already gone through this book and found one we could do. As all the rest are too complex or sadistic." 

"I really don't like where this is going." Jack moaned and Miko elbowed him in the ribs. "Hey!" Jack rubbed his side indignantly. "That was uncalled for." 

"Come on, where's your sense of adventure?" 

"It's buried six feet underground along with the hope that you'd stop getting yourself into risky situations." Jack retorted and Miko's eyes snapped at him before settling into a glare. 

"I'm going to ignore that _, for now_ , as I need you to get some white paint. There should be cans leftover from Bulkhead's science mania somewhere in storage." Miko made a shooing motion with her hands at Jack, who slowly got up to go look for the required paint. "Okay Raf, I need you to find a video or a pronunciation guide, so we don't botch the words up." She deftly flipped through the book and found the page containing the ritual. 

Raf leaned in, scanned over the words, and messed with his glasses again. "Hmmm, I should be able to find something." He got up and retrieved his laptop from its resting place inside his backpack, which had been left propped against the worn yellow sofa. Soon his fingers were flying over the keys and his face settled into a deep concentration. 

Miko hummed triumphantly to herself as she went over the ritual's instructions again, reading them aloud softly so as not to disturb Raf. "Paint the diagram....chant the words....oh! right! We'll need a chosen 'leader' to do the chant. That'll be me, obvi. Anything else? Nope? This one _really_ is easy!" 

Footsteps and slight panting caused her to look up and she broke into a wide grin. Jack was lugging a gallon of paint and clearly having a hard time keeping it from spilling onto his clothes. She could see at least four drops of paint on his shirt and two on his pants. Miko mentally debated whether or not she should help. In the end, she got up to lend her assistance. Jack could be infuriatingly slow sometimes and she wasn't anywhere near being called a patient person. 

"I found a translation of it," Raf called out from behind his computer. "Do we have to recite it in its original language?" 

Miko shrugged as she and Jack set the paint can down by the book. "I dunno. Let me check." Her finger skimmed over the pages. "It says, 'chant the words in rhythmic time,' but it doesn't say that it has to be one language over another. Does the translation you found rhyme?" 

"No." Raf settled back into his concentration mode. "But I'm sure I can find one that does." 

Miko gave him a thumbs up and then went back to the painting portion. "Did you see any brushes we could use?" 

Jack nodded. "They had fallen behind a box but it won't be that hard to get them." 

"Great. You go work on that." 

"Miko!" 

"What?" 

Jack crossed his arms and huffed. "You should at least do _something_ to help." 

"I am doing something. It's called supervising."

Jack's expression expertly conveyed the fact that he was utterly unamused. 

"Fiiiiiiine," Miko relented. She backtracked to where Jack had come from and peered down the hall. It was in no worse condition than the rest of the base though it smelled a bit different. Probably due to the stuff kept in storage. There were three hangers/rooms for her to check and she silently cursed herself for not asking Jack which one he'd found the paint in. 

"Man, I just made so much more work for myself." She considered calling for Jack but, on the other hand, she could justifiably use searching for paint as an excuse for snooping around the storage rooms. She tripped down to the first room and peered in. It was half full of energon cubes.

"Booooooooriiiiing." She sang and moved on to the next one. The second room proved to be more interesting. It was a lot smaller than the one for energon storage but it was full of Cybertronian and human tech, in no apparent order or system. There were two major piles of broken tech, one pile's tech was super broken and the other one less broken and those were the most organized piles in the room. 

"Ratchet's really not one for organizing." Miko laughed to herself. For it was obvious that this space was for Ratchet's personal storage. After all, who else would keep all this tech? Bulkhead? Miko cracked herself up with that thought.

The last room was decently sized and contained an assortment of human items. Most likely left over from the previous human tenets and then shoved in here when the Autobots decided they didn't have a use for it. There was furniture, most of it in worse condition than the yellow sofa in the main base. 

_I wonder if this is where they got the sofa from,_ Miko thought rummaging through the boxes strew across the floor. There were pictures, board games, letters, and other random trinkets. If Miko hadn't been on a mission to find some paintbrushes she might of stayed in there all afternoon. But she'd found the origin of the paint can by stumbling across some of its buddies and saw the brushes. They had fallen behind a stack of boxes that she carefully tried to maneuver around. Of course, her luck petered out as soon as her fingers closed around the handle of a brush and the top box crashed down from its precarious position. 

She emerged from the mess with a single paintbrush in hand and stared down ruefully at the mess. A part of her wanted to leave it but her stomach flopped at the thought. It'd be rude and disrespectful to leave the stuff on the ground. All of it had belonged to one or more of the soldiers who'd used to work here and all of it had been important and precious at one point. 

Setting her paintbrush to the side, Miko bent over and began to scoop everything back into the box. She paused to look at a crinkled picture of around twenty guys. They were dressed in military uniforms and each one wore a happy smile. On the back was written in a faded pen a simple, "Merry Christmas." 

_I wonder how many of these soldiers are still alive._ Miko pushed that thought away abruptly and gently placed the photo on the top of all the random stuff in the box. The room's atmosphere crawled across her skin, heavy and oppressive. She collected her brush and left without a single glance behind her. 

"What took you so long?" Jack asked. He had joined Raf and was crouched behind the laptop. "Raf found a translation that only needs slight editing to rhyme." 

"Awesome! Let's get to work on this diagram." Miko replied conveniently neglecting to answer his first question. 

"You only brought one brush back," Jack said as he stood up and stretched. 

"Okay then, _I'll_ get to work on the diagram." 

Jack rolled his eyes. "I'll go get another brush." 

Soon both of them were on their knees painting outlines that were sloppy and crooked. Raf had finished his editing on the chant and was looking at the book and critiquing their line-work. 

"That one's supposed to be parallel to the one running down the middle guys." 

"You gave that line the wrong angle, now it won't intersect properly, Miko." 

"That one's more of a curve than a line, Jack." 

Jack and Miko bore the criticism as patiently as possible and they almost kept up a complete saint-like attitude. Jack and Miko progressed steadily together until Ratchet arrived. He'd been off in one of the halls fixing an energon pipe and had not been informed of the humans' project. So, he walked in casually and was caught off guard by a dilapidated diagram and paint splatter in generous portions. 

"What in Primus have you done to the floor!" He yelled trying to process the scene before him. "This is a base of operations not a canvas for your art projects!" 

"Oh, hi Ratchet!" Miko smiled and went back to painting while Jack paused to stare at the floor. 

"Sorry Ratchet, we should have asked first but it's almost done now." Raf at least had the courtesy to look apologetic. 

"And what may I ask is 'almost done'?" 

Raf was at a loss of words and quickly shot at glance at Miko and Jack for support. Jack got up as Miko finished the last lines and attempted to give Ratchet an explanation. 

"Well, you see we were just testing out a thingy from a book Miko found."

"A 'thingy'?" 

"A ritual to summon a demon," Miko interjected and gave him a crafty smile. "And I just finished the last lines for the diagram." She waved her brush in triumph. 

"To summon a _what_?" 

"Demons. They're like super bad fallen angels or like super evil creatures," Miko replied casually as she picked up Raf's laptop and set it in her lap. 

"You are NOT going to summon a thing like that into the base." 

"It doesn't actually work," Raf piped up. "At least there's no evidence that it does." 

"By the Allspark, you think I'm going to let you chance it because there's no _evidence_ it works?" Ratchet optics shrunk incredulously. "I'm going to com Optimus. Primus knows he'll be able to handle this better than I can." 

The boys were fidgeting and staring at anything other than Ratchet. Miko, however, was undeterred and she sat at the front of a circle and began to read off the chant. "From a different time and place I find myself in need of aid." 

The ground bridge opened the second Ratchet had established contact with Optimus. He began to explain the situation while he waited for Optimus to walk in along with the other Autobots. "The humans are trying to summon a 'demon' and I am certain it's a bad idea." 

Miko kept reading. "I respectfully ask for your protection and power to save." 

Optimus could be seen emerging from the ground bridge and his voice crackled through the com. "The humans are summoning a demon?" 

"The integrity of all that was and all that will be," Miko hurried trying to read off everything before Optimus fully entered the base. 

"Yes, a 'demon' and I need you to stop them!" Ratchet urged looking down at Miko in disapproval. "They- Miko- won't listen to reason." 

"She rarely does," Bulkhead boomed as he appeared in the ground bridge along with Arcee and Bumblebee. 

"To the best of your most renowned ability." Miko finished and set the laptop aside with a nod of satisfaction. Her eyes widened in surprise as the diagram began to glow. 

By now the returning Autobots had entered the base and Ratchet was desperately looking back and forth between Optimus and the glowing diagram. The human boys' color drained from their faces and they stood pale with fear flooding pounding in their eyes. 

Miko leapt up and took a hesitant step backwards. There was a blinding flash of light and vision was briefly lost. With rapid blinking, Miko was the first to recover and she stared dumbfounded at the being that now stood in the center of the painted ring. 

The being had long red hair and pale skin and they looked at themselves in confusion as they took in their appearance. "What a funny form you gave me," they laughed and held out a hand. "I'm 0972. How may I be of service?"

Frozen still with terror, Miko screamed.


	2. Names and Timelines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see any grammar or spelling mistakes, let me know! :) (or misuse of pronouns as I've already had to fix accidentally referring to Raf as they/them)

"Well, this was unexpected." 0972 blinked slowly taking in the low hum of blasters charging and the sight of five towering Autobots settled into battle stance brandishing guns, blades, both, or none. They paused to look at themselves and sighed. "I'm not going to move but can the young girl with the colored hair please change my form? This one's really uncomfortable. After that, I promise we can take the time to sort this whole thing out." 

Miko took another step back and looked at Optimus. His optics flickered with consideration before he nodded. 

"How do I change your form?" Miko asked while she continued to cautiously back away, desperately pretending that she hadn't just screamed. Bulkhead stood in her peripheral vision and she adjusted her route to end up next to his foot. 

"Just think of another form. I think you got this one from the cover of that book over there." 

Miko stole a glance at the Summoner's Guide's cover. It was true, the being looked exactly like the one on the cover. "Frea~ky." 

"Not really. It was an image fresh in your mind and it carried over to me." 0972 explained. "All you have to do is bring up another image, preferably one with shorter hair and more practical clothing." They gestured to the tight black dress they currently wore. 

"Kay, let's see." 

0972's form flickered and changed, resting into an appearance that looked scarily close to Miko, yet older with a short edgy bob haircut with purple strands. They now wore a loose shirt and black leggings and their left arm was missing. Miko paled as she stumbled over her words. "Let's, uh, not, um, use this form." 

0972 blurred again and they solidified as an androgynous mix of 'older Miko' and one of the soldiers off the Christmas card. Their (now camo) shirt still hung loose and the leggings had remained.  Their hair had also kept the same edgy bob but they had gained a shaved side and their left arm back. All in all, they looked satisfied with their appearance. 

"I'll lock this one in as my default form." 0972 smiled at Miko. "Thanks for coming up with this one." 

"Can we get back on track?" Bulkhead asked glaring down at 0972. "What is _that_? And how did it get in here?" 

"I am confident all will be answered in due time," Optimus replied as he dismissed his guns and face mask and straightened out of his battle posture. 

"Are you sure letting down your guard is the wisest thing to do?" Arcee stepped in front of Jack and Raf. "This thing clearly isn't human." 

Bumblebee beeped in agreement though he lowered his guns a skosh. 

"While the life-form before us is not human," Optimus knelt down to establish contact closer to an eye to eye confrontation. "That does not negate the fact that they are still a life-form and, as they have yet to establish themselves as a threat, there is no need for any hostility." 

"Thank you." 0972 gave a small nod of appreciation for Optimus' consideration. "I'm not sure where to start but I'll answer any questions you all have." 

Bulkhead slammed his fists together his optics snapping with defensiveness. "Alright then how about answering mine. How did you get in here?" 

"I was summoned. Though you did use a very old-fashioned method that I had previously believed to be inactive as it had been deemed inefficient." They turned to stare at Miko. "Did you believe it was inactive too? Is that why you were surprised at my arrival?"  

"I did kinda want it to work but yeah, I'd assumed it wasn't going to. Summoning a demon is supposed to be a myth." Miko laughed a bit ruefully as she recovered her usual pep and pulled out her phone. "But since you're here I gotta take a photo. A demon will be a great addition to my photo gallery." 

"But I'm not a-" 

A click and a flash and Miko began to examine her new photo. "What was that." 

0972 sighed softly and sunk into a state of deep thought for a second. They then shook their head and composed themselves before continuing. "I was trying to say that I'm not _actually_ a demon. I'm confused as to how you managed to reach that conclusion." 

"We found the ritual in a demon and monster summoning book and just assumed you'd be one or the other." Raf poked his head out from behind Arcee's leg and pushed his glasses up. "So, you're not a demon, are you a monster?" 

"Hold up-" They held up a hand and slipped into thought again. Their eyes shifting downwards as they blocked out their surrounding for a bit. They resurfaced and shook their head. "No, I'm not a monster." 

"Why did you have to stop and think before you answered?" Jack's head appeared over Raf's and he stared suspiciously at 0972. "That's not a terribly reassuring thing to do." 

"My apologies. I had to access this timeline's core to find out what fell underneath the labels of 'monster' and 'demon'." 

"What in Primus do you mean by _this timeline's core_?" The medic crossed his arms and huffed. "The flow of time possessing a core, or even a hard-drive of information, is nigh well unbelievable." 

0972 cocked their head to the side and stared blankly past Optimus. "Hmm, it seems I employed the wrong word. Let's see," they snapped their head back to face Ratchet. "It's more like- I withdrew to enter into the flowing river of time to sift for a certain particle of information I required, similar to the phrase 'sifting for gold.' But because I could draw from the knowledge of those born into this timeline, entirely due to their close proximity to me, I was able to find the answer I needed promptly as it was currently fresh in their own 'rivers of time' per say. Does that explain it better?" 

"Um, no? You just made my head hurt." Miko complained and sat down on Bulkhead's foot. "What's with all this sifting-river-time nonsense." 

"I think I get it." Raf stepped out from behind Arcee's leg and approached 0972. "Are you saying you're from a different timeline? And that you can cross into other timelines and access information about the timeline you're currently in? But the speed at which you find the information you're looking for depends somewhat on those nearby and how recently they thought about or done the particular information you want?" 

They nodded rapidly and broke into a wide grin at being comprehended so quickly and exactly. 

"Wait, you can just enter different timelines?" Jack waved his hands around exasperatedly. "So, what does that make us? Just some alternate universe? Would we even be the right universe to be in? Or even the original?"

Perplexed, 0972's face scrunched up and they raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that's the right way to put it. Every timeline is independent of any other timeline. Though some timelines share many similarities that doesn't make one the 'original' or even the 'right' one. It'd be like saying that you are the 'wrong' version of yourself because there are other males of your species who are better than you, either by talent, virtue, or because they possess more desirable base looks. Or, to flip it around, that you are the best because you are better than others with your innate talent, virtue, or appearance. 

"As for originality, do you wish to claim that you, yourself, are wholly original? That you have nothing in common with anyone around you, past or present? None of your traits overlap with another? As for the timeline that could have once been called The Original, it has long since collapsed and is no longer around. Every single timeline now in existence is merely a copy in some form or another and cannot be defined by the terms 'right', 'wrong', or 'original'. They just simply are." 

0972's tone fluctuated between sincere and passionate and her gestures vaguely tried to match the theme as they'd been given severely sub-par thought. As everyone in the room listened to 0972 speak, those still on guard dropped their weapons and defensiveness. All that is, except Arcee. Optimus gave her an understanding look as he rose from his kneeling position but he refrained from remarking on it.

"I guess," Jack conceded finally after silence had hung in the air for a solid minute. "But that doesn't change the fact that some timelines are good and others bad." 

"Whether a timeline is considered good or bad, is entirely up to the person you ask." 0972 lifted her head to stare thoughtfully at the ceiling as their hands intertwined behind their back and they rocked back and forth.  "To the murderer, any timeline that legalizes meditated killing is a good timeline, but to those who abhor violence, it's the foulest timeline to be allowed into existence. But on a common moral basis found in almost all timelines, yes, there are bad timelines and good timelines." 

"Which one are we in?" Raf's voice and stature seemed to shrink standing next to 0972's tall frame. "Good or bad?" 

They placed a comforting hand on Raf's shoulder for a short time of contact. "You're in a good timeline-" They paused and stifled a giggle. "I just realized how off track we got. I still have yet to learn how to refer to any of you." 

"Say what?" Miko yawned and draped herself across Bulkhead's foot. "Raf translation please." 

"They'd like us to introduce ourselves so they know what to call us." The young boy smiled softly as he went to retrieve his backpack and laptop. "I'll go first, I'm Raf."

"And I'll list the rest of 'em off," Miko interjected leaping off of her resting place. "It's finally something semi-interesting to do. The coward over there is Jack." 

"I'm not a coward!" 

"Really? Then why are you still hiding behind Arcee?" 

Jack flushed red and hurried out from behind the feme's leg. "It wasn't on purpose, I just forgot I was still there. Besides you're the one who screamed!" 

"Yeah, yeah, what-ev's. Anyways, I'm Miko. The uptight lady with trust issues is Arcee." 

Arcee's optics narrowed. 

"I mean the badass bot is Arcee. This hunk of metal's Bulkhead." She jabbed a thumb in her guardian's direction. "The yellow baby of the team is Bumblebee." 

Bumblebee let out a series of indignant beeps and whistles. 

"I'm sure she didn't mean it like that," Raf interceded slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "You know how Miko is." 

Miko blatantly ignored Raf's comment. "Mr. Grumpy Face is Ratchet." 

Ratchet rolled his optics and gave out a low, "humph." 

"And lastly is the mega-boss-bot Optimus Prime. He's the leader, obvi, and a bit of a softy." 

Optimus merely nodded in affirmation of Miko's summary. 

"So, who are you again? You just said a bunch of numbers last time." 

"0972 is my designation." They repeated. 

"I wanna know your, like, name." Miko insisted impatiently placing her hands on her hips. "Not your number-thing." 

"I'm afraid I don't have a name. '0972' is all I've ever been known as." 

"Seriously?" Miko crossed her arms in an overplayed show of disgust. "Well, I'll call you Kaaliya! Or something fantasy-like, something like Tobias! Or Uzair? Thaddeus?" 

"Alex," Raf called out quietly. "If it's alright with them, I think Alex would work." 

"Yeah, I agree with Raf," Jack said. "They look like an Alex." 

They laughed and ran a hand through their hair. "Alex it is." 

"I'll just be over here," Miko lamented dramatically. "Since it seems that no one appreciates the effort I put into my name suggestions." 

Before she could be acknowledged, Ratchet butted back into the conversation. "This is nice and all, but what about Alex's plans for leaving? Surely they aren't planning on staying here forever. I don't care if they were summoned or not." 

"Of course," Alex gave a quick nod in Ratchet's direction and then turned to face Miko. "You used a summon and bind spell. Basically, you and I will be connected until I complete the task you summoned me for." 

"Well you see-" Miko hesitated. "I didn't really.....summon you for anything? I kinda just did it for fun?"

_"What?"  
_

Whether that one word was spoken louder by Ratchet or by Alex has been debated, but what was automatically accepted was the fact that Miko was a constant source of trouble and this was no exception.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Miko's family is the first one I'm going to build upon in case you were wondering. (I will also include actual demons. Though I can't say much without spoiling a certain human's family.)

**Author's Note:**

> If you see any spelling or grammar mistakes, let me know! I'm more than happy to fix them. :)


End file.
